Akin Oyebadejo blog

The deliberate absence of some notable past leaders at the Democracy Day celebration in Abuja last wednesday is a strong signal that the political battle for 2015 had started. Among the absentees were Tambuwal(speaker House of Rep) IBB,Buhari,Abdusalami and OBJ. It is not a hidden fact that GEJ had fallen out of favour of his mentor OBJ, but for OBJ to have opted to attend a state function at Dutse, Jigawa when he should be in Abuja as member of the Executive Council, can be seen as a calculated attempt to ridicule President Jonathan. Also, the statement credited to him in Jigawa that "You can help someone to get a job, but can't help the person to do the job was a salvo aimed at GEJ. Giving the antecedence of OBJ as someone not given to niceties in his choice of words and reactions to issues, it is now very obvious that the kingmaker has characteristically adopted the Gov of Jigawa state Sule Lamido as his begotten son on whom the thrust of leadership can be invested. OBJ has been rooting for this man since 2008 and had severally posited that Lamido is undoubtedly the best PDP governor and a man capable of transforming the nation like he did with Jigawa state with little resources at his disposal. In fact, Dutse the state capital has been described as another Abuja. Another angle to the unfolding drama is the posters of Lamido/Ameechi which has flooded Abuja. The game plan is to wittle down the incumbency power of GEJ whose only ally now are the Edwin Clark, Asare Dokubo and some Niger-delta Amnesty beneficiaries and perhaps some pockets of governors-the unexpected turn-out of the NGF elections is a further pointer to the waning powers and control of Jonathan. Time will tell as we go on to 2015.